Two Detroit families are suing Hutchison Funeral Home after the home allegedly cremated Kimberly Moore ahead of her scheduled viewing, then dressed another woman’s body in Moore’s clothes and wig and presented it to her family as her.
Moore’s daughter Bianca Robinson arrived early to do her mother’s makeup and knew immediately something was wrong. “My mom was everything to me,” Robinson said at a Wednesday press conference. “I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye and I needed it so bad just to keep going.”
The other woman was Sandra Miller. Her family says the funeral home first told them she wasn’t involved, then they learned through the Moores that Miller’s body had been used as, in their words, a prop at another woman’s viewing. “After everything she endured, my mom deserved dignity,” said Miller’s daughter Cessley Walker.
The families’ attorney called it “one of the most indefensible cases I’ve seen in a long time” and accused the home of trying to sweep it under the rug. The funeral home’s attorney says there was no intentionality, and that staff believed the body they showed the family was Moore’s. A funeral home employee reportedly told the family a wet toe tag fell off.
It gets darker. Hutchison Funeral Home vice president Joseph Hutchison Jr. was found dead in his home on Sept. 24. Authorities have not linked his death to the case, and Detroit police say they are not investigating any criminality related to it.
The lawsuits also name Southern Michigan Cremation Services, which the families’ attorney says lacked the proper permit for Moore’s cremation. Moore’s ashes still have not been returned. They will be DNA tested.
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